The European Commission’s effort to reduce Europe’s dependence on Russian gas is clashing with commercial and national interests, which are causing problems for Brussels’ gas diversification plans.
Gazprom’s recent partnership with five West European companies to expand the Nord Stream pipeline — running under the Baltic Sea from Russia to Germany — is pitting EU countries against each other and is highlighting the challenges of implementing the energy union, a Commission signature project.
The problem is that Russia hopes to use the pipeline to avoid shipping gas across Ukraine, while the Commission is keen to continue using Ukraine as a transit country, …read more
Source: European Voice
